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Ashley Graczyk

Latest articles from Ashley Graczyk

Edinburgh Labour is seeking to run the local authority with a group of just 13 out of 63 councillors

COMMENT A power-hungry Labour clique has sold its soul for Edinburgh City Council

LABOUR’S takeover of control of the City of Edinburgh Council as a minority administration – thanks to support from Tories and Liberal Democrats – is the worst kind of example of self-interested, power-hungry local politics, spiting the intentions of voters across Edinburgh.

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Despite the Finance Minister recently saying the Covid pandemic has 'underlined the value of a safe, secure and affordable home', investment in social and affordable homes was cut by £268 million

COMMENT Why has the Scottish Government cut cash for affordable homes?

SOCIAL housing is a matter close to my heart because

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We should prioritise people over vehicles across our city

Comment Ashley Graczyk: Bold moves needed to make Edinburgh people-friendly
EDINBURGH Council is in the process of rolling out temporary measures to support people walking, wheeling and cycling through our streets as lockdown eases. However, I regret to say we have not acted as swiftly, decisively or indeed effectively as other areas.

The Edinburgh Festivals would have posed a huge risk to public health rise

COMMENT The coronavirus crisis gives us an opportunity to do the Festivals differently

THE 2020 Edinburgh Festivals, including the Fringe and International Festival, have now been cancelled. The huge risk to public health in Scotland if these annual events were staged as usual has rightly been assessed as unacceptable. Coronavirus cases continue to rise and nobody knows when we will have the pandemic under control.

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Scotland Secretary Alister Jack has been making claims about the independence movement

Comment Ashley Graczyk: Some home truths for Scotland Secretary Alister Jack

Dear Secretary of State for Scotland,

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We are fortunate to have an alternative to the insular and exclusionary state proposed by Conservatives like Boris Johnson

COMMENT Ruth Davidson must stand up to extremists like Boris Johnson
MUCH has changed following the referenda of 2014 and 2016. Simply put, the “status quo” that many No voters, myself included, thought they were voting for in the Scottish independence referendum in 2014 does not exist anymore, and the Brexit deal the people were promised in the EU referendum in 2016 is undeliverable.

Ashley Graczyk was a member of the Scottish Tories

Ashley Graczyk: I quit the Tories last year over their silence on Brexit
THE failings of the Conservative Government on Brexit, welfare and communities have been laid bare by the defection of Tory MPs to the Independent Group. With a month to go until Brexit, Anna Soubry, Sarah Wollaston and Heidi Allen resigned from the party, citing the dismal failure of the UK Government to protect citizen’s rights and its disastrous handling of Brexit.

Edinburgh's festivals bring huge numbers of tourists – but not equally across the capital. Photograph: Gordon Terris

Festivals must bring cultural benefits to all parts of the city
AS another summer comes to a close, I have increasingly been made aware of the mixed views of some of my constituents in Sighthill-Gorgie towards the Edinburgh Festival.